Growing Together

Labor's agenda for tackling inequality

After a quarter-century of continuous economic growth, inequality is at a 75-year high.

2.5 million Australians live below the poverty line, and hundreds of thousands of Australians are unemployed.

For all the success Australians have achieved, the rewards are not as widely spread or as fairly shared as we like to imagine.

Too many Australians want work but cannot find it. Unemployment is unacceptably high in parts of the country, and for particular groups – young people, people with disability and Indigenous Australians.

Increasingly, underemployment, insecure work and low wages growth is making it harder for families to build stable lives.

Inequality is rising – undermining living standards, sustainable growth and social cohesion.

Perhaps for the first time in our history, we cannot be confident that the next generation of Australians will be better off than we are.

Understandably, many Australians are anxious about what the future holds – for their families and their country.

This is a national debate we need to have.

Growing Together offers new policy thinking and a new agenda – putting inclusive growth and social investment at the centre of Australia’s future.

With the latest evidence and contributions from some of the country’s leading policy thinkers, it provides a detailed assessment of Australian society today, and offers some ideas for change around seven key pillars:

Putting Jobs First

Investing in the Early Years

Quality Education Across Life

Balancing Work, Care and Family

Supporting Longevity

Building Stronger Communities

Modernising Policy Development and Governance

Together, these represent a new agenda for tackling inequality in Australia.